THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080502
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The executive director of the Albemarle Area United Way Inc. has resigned after officials raised questions about the group's annual financial statement last week.
J. Graham Foreman submitted a letter of resignation to Chairman Jerry Miller on Monday, United Way officials said Tuesday afternoon. The organization's board of directors had suspended Foreman on Friday after an emergency meeting Thursday night.
United Way officials have informed the district attorney's office of the ``accounting issues raised'' and said the office is investigating. District Attorney Frank Parrish could not be reached to confirm an investigation.
Miller, former Chairman Doug Gardner and Albemarle Area United Way attorney Lee Leidy made the announcements in Miller's office at Home Savings Bank Tuesday. They refused to specify what questions had been raised or the reason for Foreman's resignation.
``We'd like to be more candid,'' Gardner said. ``We can't at this point.''
Last week, Gardner and Miller reviewed the agency's annual audit, which is submitted to the state at the end of January each year. The statement had been prepared by an independent certified public accountant, officials said. They would not name the accountant.
Questions raised by Gardner and Miller prompted an executive committee meeting, which led to the emergency board meeting, a statement from the organization says.
Miller, Gardner and Leidy met with Foreman for about an hour and a half Tuesday, and Leidy said he was very cooperative. Foreman, who was paid $14,500 a year and was the agency's only paid employee, kept the organization's books, officials said.
Foreman could not be reached for comment.
Officials are looking both inside and outside the area for a certified public accounting firm to perform an independent audit ``so that the accounting issues raised may be fully understood and resolved as quickly as possible,'' the statement says.
United Way officials were scheduled to meet with the heads of the 20 local agencies supported by the organization Tuesday night to discuss the investigation.
``The board feels that its primary obligation is to assure its agencies and contributors that every measure has been taken to promptly and fully investigate the accounting issues raised within the last week,'' the statement says.
Leidy said the board will not release further details until an audit is completed. That could take up to 120 days, she said, although officials are looking for an auditor that can work quickly.
``This is a difficult time of year to find a CPA who doesn't have lots of work,'' Gardner said.
The North Carolina United Way in Raleigh has recommended a replacement executive director for the local agency, but the person had not been contacted yet, officials said. Miller said the group ``will continue to operate.''
Foreman, who is in his early 30s, was hired as the local organization's first executive director in July 1992. Foreman had been named a volunteer of the year by the Chamber of Commerce in February 1992.
Gardner described Foreman as conscientious. ``He put a lot of time in,'' he said.
The Albemarle Area United Way provides more than $200,000 annually to its member agencies, some 20 percent of the groups' combined annual expenditures. The goal for 1994-95 is to raise $230,000. by CNB